Iceland is famous for its breathtaking scenery, its geysers, its Blue Lagoon—and for using its abundant renewable energy, and especially for tapping the volcanic roots of the island in developing its geothermal resources.

Iceland today generates 100 percent of its electricity with renewables: 75 percent of that from large hydro, and 25 percent from geothermal. Equally significant, Iceland provides 87 percent of its demand for hot water and heat with geothermal energy, primarily through an extensive district heating system.

Altogether, hydro and geothermal sources meet 81 percent of Iceland’s primary energy requirements for electricity, heat, and transportation. Iceland has profited by using the low cost of its renewably generated electricity—and the stable price it represents over the long term—to lure a large aluminum smelting industry to the island.

The US has put forward a proposal to cut its overall emissions by 26-28% of their 2005 levels by 2025. The widespread acceptance and implementation of the electricity plan is vital to achieving this target.

"I expect to see quite a few governors and state air regulators welcoming the announcement, and indicating that it is quite reasonable and achievable for their states to meet," said Alden Meyer, from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"That should help assure our international negotiating partners that the initiative is likely to survive the political challenges it will inevitably face in the coming months and years."

Wherever you live or happen to travel to, never complain about the heat and humidity again.

In the city of Bandar Mahshahr (population of about 110,000 as of 2010), the air felt like a searing 154 degrees (67.8 Celsius) today, factoring in the humidity.

Its actual air temperature was 109 degrees (42.8 Celsius) with an astonishing dew point temperature of 90 (32.2 Celsius). (If you use NOAA’s calculator, that actually computes to a heat index of 159 degrees).

Bandar Mahshahr sits adjacent to the Persian Gulf in southwest Iran where water temperatures are in the 90s. Such high temperatures lead to some of the most oppressive humidity levels in the world when winds blow off the water.

Nossa Cidade (“Our City”), from TheCityFix Brasil, explores critical questions for building more sustainable cities. Every month features a new theme. Leaning on the expertise of researchers and specialists in WRI’s sustainable urban mobility team in Brazil, the series will feature in depth articles on urban planning, sustainable mobility, gender, resilience, and other key themes for sparking more sustainable development in our cities.

In an interview with TheCityFix Brasil, Felipe Calderon, former President of Mexico and President of the Global Climate Economy Commission, emphasized the role that sustainable urban growth plays in climate change mitigation: “We need to build new urban infrastructure and create more compact and well connected cities. The way we build our cities and transportation systems will determine our economic performance, residents’ quality of life, and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced over the next decades.”

The world is taking notice of this urgency. The role of cities in tackling climate change will be will be just one of the issues discussed in September at the International Congress Cities & Transport. Some of the voices that we’ll hear from include Sam Adams, former mayor of Portland (USA); Rachel Biderman, director of WRI Brazil; Nelson Franco, climate change manager for the City Hall of Rio de Janeiro; and Délio Malheiros, vice mayor and environment secretary of Belo Horizonte.

Every morning at 5:30, Liu Desheng joins a dozen retirees waiting for the express bus to central Beijing from this small city in Hebei Province. They stand at the front of the line but never board, instead waiting as bus after bus pulls up, each picking up 50 people from the ever-lengthening line behind the retirees.

Around 6:30, their adult children arrive. The line, now snaking down the street, has become an hourlong wait. People cut in, and a shoving match breaks out. But the retirees have saved their children this ordeal. When the next bus pulls up, the young adults take their parents’ places at the head of the line and board first, settling into coveted seats for a 25-mile ride that can take up to three hours.

“There’s not much I can contribute to the family anymore,” Mr. Liu, 62, said as his son waved goodbye from a bus window. “He is exhausted every day, so if I can help him get a bit more rest, I’ll do it.”

The Liu family’s commuting habit is a small but telling part of a megacity in the making.

For decades, China’s government has tried to limit the size of Beijing, the capital, through draconian residency permits. Now, the government has embarked on an ambitious plan to make Beijing the center of a new supercity of 130 million people.

The planned megalopolis, a metropolitan area that would be about six times the size of New York’s, is meant to revamp northern China’s economy and become a laboratory for modern urban growth.

“The supercity is the vanguard of economic reform,” said Liu Gang, a professor at Nankai University in Tianjin who advises local governments on regional development. “It reflects the senior leadership’s views on the need for integration, innovation and environmental protection.”

Energy storage technology is key to popularizing solar energy generation, and that point was underscored by the feature speaker at a large solar energy conference in San Francisco Monday: Tesla Motors' chief technology officer, JB Straubel. Straubel took the stage at Intersolar's opening ceremony to extol the energy density and other [...]

Stephane Bilodeau's insight:

“Even with a relatively small fleet of cars today, around 60,00 cars in the world, (Tesla’s cars make up) about 5 gigawatt-hours of energy storage connected to the grid,” Straubel said. “It’s not going to be many years before Tesla will have a million cars, or 70 gigawatt-hours of storage.”

Straubel ended his talk with a slide that featured a quote from Sheikh Yamani, a former Saudi oil minister: “The stone age came to an end not for lack of stones. And the oil age will come to an end not for lack of oil.”

“The reason why we call it the replication strategy is we’re trying to come up with exactly the same designed plants,” the firm’s executive vice president, Mark Little, said at the company’s annual shareholders meeting April 30. “If the resource is there, we’re trying to figure out, how do you bring it to market at a less costly manner?”

Other highly sought-after technologies in the oil industry today are solar reclamation and organic solvent extraction.

Use of solar technology could replace expensive and power-intensive ultraviolet lamps in advanced wastewater filtration systems at a fraction of the cost.

"When hauling around massive amounts of money and valuables around Southern California, security is generally a much bigger concern than fuel economy. However, the need for vehicles to become more efficient is hitting every segment, even armored vans. That's why Efficient Drivetrains Inc. and North American Repower are teaming up to convert six of these 26,000-pound behemoths run on natural gaswith a plug-in hybrid offering additional help. The first one should be hauling riches for Sectran Security around Los Angeles in 2016.

All three companies are already positioning the upcoming conversion as a win-win solution to current issues. The armored vehicles can still do their job of hauling money around the LA area but with a claimed 99.9 percent reduction in emissions from the current diesel engines. Generally, the vans make frequent stops while at work but must stay running for security reasons. This can potentially run afoul of California's rule not to let diesels idle more than five minutes. With this upcoming version, drivers will be able to go electrically between stops and then will use the natural gas when cruising.

This work combines the strengths of both firms working on these vehicles. North American Repower already specializes in natural gas engine management and conversions, and Efficient Drivetrains is very familiar with the world of plug-ins. The funding for the project includes a $3-million grant from the California Energy Commission, plus the same amount in private funds."<

[...]

>"Press Release:

North American Repower and Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. to Deliver First PHEV-RNG Armored TruckCollaboration reduces emissions by 99.9 percent

"We're excited to be partnering with EDI on this breakthrough innovation"

North American Repower—California's leading natural gas engine management and conversion technology company— and Efficient Drivetrains, Inc.—a global leader in developing high-efficiency Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle solution—will convert a fleet of six 26,000 pound, Class-5 medium-duty armored vehicles operated by Sectran Security into PHEV vehicles that run on electricity and renewable natural gas—known as "Zero Emission with Range Extension" vehicles. The collaboration supports the dramatic acceleration in California toward a zero emissions environment. Today, the Sectran Security trucks make frequent stops as part of their highly congested urban routes. At each stop, the engines are kept idling for security purposes, but now risk violating California's strict diesel idling regulations, which prohibit idling the engine for more than five minutes. With the modernized trucks, Sectran can completely eliminate engine idling by operating in all-electric mode during stop-and-go operations on urban routes and in hybrid-mode during highway operations. When complete, the vehicles possess impressive performance statistics—the demonstration trucks will enable Sectran to reduce annual diesel consumption by 31,000+ gallons, significantly reduce annual fuel costs, and reduce emissions by 99.9 percent. [...]"<

>"When hauling around massive amounts of money and valuables around Southern California, security is generally a much bigger concern than fuel economy. However, the need for vehicles to become more efficient is hitting every segment, even armored vans. That's why Efficient Drivetrains Inc. and North American Repower are teaming up to convert six of these 26,000-pound behemoths run on natural gaswith a plug-in hybrid offering additional help. The first one should be hauling riches for Sectran Security around Los Angeles in 2016.

All three companies are already positioning the upcoming conversion as a win-win solution to current issues. The armored vehicles can still do their job of hauling money around the LA area but with a claimed 99.9 percent reduction in emissions from the current diesel engines. Generally, the vans make frequent stops while at work but must stay running for security reasons. This can potentially run afoul of California's rule not to let diesels idle more than five minutes. With this upcoming version, drivers will be able to go electrically between stops and then will use the natural gas when cruising.

This work combines the strengths of both firms working on these vehicles. North American Repower already specializes in natural gas engine management and conversions, and Efficient Drivetrains is very familiar with the world of plug-ins. The funding for the project includes a $3-million grant from the California Energy Commission, plus the same amount in private funds."<

[...]

>"Press Release:

North American Repower and Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. to Deliver First PHEV-RNG Armored TruckCollaboration reduces emissions by 99.9 percent

"We're excited to be partnering with EDI on this breakthrough innovation"

North American Repower—California's leading natural gas engine management and conversion technology company— and Efficient Drivetrains, Inc.—a global leader in developing high-efficiency Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle solution—will convert a fleet of six 26,000 pound, Class-5 medium-duty armored vehicles operated by Sectran Security into PHEV vehicles that run on electricity and renewable natural gas—known as "Zero Emission with Range Extension" vehicles. The collaboration supports the dramatic acceleration in California toward a zero emissions environment. Today, the Sectran Security trucks make frequent stops as part of their highly congested urban routes. At each stop, the engines are kept idling for security purposes, but now risk violating California's strict diesel idling regulations, which prohibit idling the engine for more than five minutes. With the modernized trucks, Sectran can completely eliminate engine idling by operating in all-electric mode during stop-and-go operations on urban routes and in hybrid-mode during highway operations. When complete, the vehicles possess impressive performance statistics—the demonstration trucks will enable Sectran to reduce annual diesel consumption by 31,000+ gallons, significantly reduce annual fuel costs, and reduce emissions by 99.9 percent. [...]"<

The fires are just the latest indicator of a climatic transformation that is remaking the state — its forests, its coasts, its glaciers, and perhaps most of all, the frozen ground beneath — more than any other in America.

Stephane Bilodeau's insight:

"The staggering 2015 Alaska wildfire season may soon be the state’s worst ever, with almost 5 million acres already burned — an area larger than Connecticut. The pace of the burn has moderated in the last week, but scientists say the fires are just the latest indicator of a climatic transformation that is remaking this state — its forests, its coasts, its glaciers, and perhaps most of all, the frozen ground beneath — more than any other in America."

It is fairly well understood by now that releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere imposes an economic cost, in the form of climate change impacts. In most cases, however, those responsible for carbon emissions are not required to pay that cost. Instead, it's borne mainly by the world's poor and low-lying countries, and of course by future generations, as many of the worst impacts of climate change will emerge years after the emissions that drive them.

People sometimes refer to the unpaid cost of carbon pollution as a subsidy, or an "implicit subsidy," to polluting businesses. The IMF recently issued a report saying that total worldwide subsidies to energy, mainly fossil fuel energy, amounted to $5.2 trillion a year. The reason that number is so high is that the IMF includes implicit subsidies — the social costs imposed by businesses (including climate damages) that they don't have to pay for.

"There's been a lot of work recently trying to quantify carbon risk. A new contribution to that conversation was just released by Chris Hope and colleagues at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School: "Quantifying the implicit climate subsidy received by leading fossil fuel companies." It attempts to put a number on the carbon risk facing the world's top 20 fossil fuel companies, the ones most directly vulnerable to a price on carbon. The results suggest that those companies are in a perilous situation.

(...)

The results are pretty startling. To wit: "For all companies and all years, the economic cost to society of their CO2 emissions was greater than their after‐tax profit, with the single exception of Exxon Mobil in 2008" (my emphasis). In other words, if these fossil fuel companies had to pay the full cost of the carbon emissions produced by their products, none of them would be profitable.

It's even worse for pure coal companies, for which "the economic cost to society exceeds total revenue in all years, with this cost varying between nearly $2 and nearly $9 per $1 of revenue." Total revenue, Hope and colleagues note, represents "employment, taxes, supply purchases, and indirect employment" — everything that coal companies contribute to the economy. It turns out the costs they impose through carbon emissions are larger than all those contributions combined. (For oil and gas companies, carbon costs generally range from 10 to 50 percent of total revenue.)"

Using old shipping containers is seen as an environmentally friendly means of constructing new homes. Taking this one step further, Sustainer Homes has begun making off-grid container dwellings that incorporate self-managed water, sewerage, electricity and gas.

Sustainer Homes argues that factors like rising rents and demand for housing is requiring younger generations to look for more affordable, sustainable and flexible living options. It says its converted shipping containers not only address these issues, but also enable independence from facilities, low-impact living and freedom of mobility.

With his 1988 congressional testimony, the then-NASA scientist is credited with putting the global warming issue on the map by saying that a warming trend had already begun. “It is time to stop waffling so much and say that the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here,” Hansen famously testified. Since then, he has drawn headlines for accusing the Bush administration of trying to muzzle him, getting arrested protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline, and setting forward the case for why carbon dioxide levels need to be kept below 350 parts per million in the atmosphere (they’re currently around 400).

Now Hansen — who retired in 2013 from his NASA post, and is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute — is publishing what he says may be his most important paper. Along with 16 other researchers — including leading experts on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets — he has authored a lengthy study outlining an scenario of potentially rapid sea level rise combined with more intense storm systems.

“You can see a lot of different points in this paper, and it’s going to take a while for the community to sort them out, but actually, the story is clear,” says Hansen. The bottom line conclusion, he says, is that sea level rise is “the big impact of human made climate change.”

Michael Oppenheimer, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, commented by email that “If we cook the planet long enough at about two degrees warming, there is likely to be a staggering amount of sea level rise. Key questions are when would greenhouse-gas emissions lock in this sea level rise and how fast would it happen? The latter point is critical to understanding whether and how we would be able to deal with such a threat.

“The paper takes a stab at answering the ‘how soon?’ question but we remain largely in the dark. Giving the state of uncertainty and the high risk, humanity better get its collective foot off the accelerator.”

From London to Lahore, cities around the world are competing to be crowned as ‘the world’s smartest city’, led by a firm belief in the power of technology to make urban centres more innovative, efficient and liveable than they already are.

Nowhere is this opportunity to make cities cleaner and smarter more evident than in Asia, which is already home to 60 per cent of the planet’s people. The region’s cities, along with Africa’s, will account for 90 per cent of the increase in the world’s population from now till 2050. That’s about 2.5 billion people who will be moving to urban centres in those regions.

The smart city is hailed as a way for urban planners to accommodate this growth sustainably. The services and infrastructure around it has grown to a multi-billion dollar industry in Asia alone.

According to a report by market research firm Navigant Research, investment in smart city information and communication technology (ICT) in Asia Pacific will total US$63.4 billion during the period from 2014 to 2023.

Indeed, the mantra of “sustainability” should guide the development of all smart city projects, emphasises Thomas Menkhoff, professor of organisational behaviour and human resources (education) at Singapore Management University’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business.

In fact, it is no longer an option for city leaders as they confront challenges such as climate change, air pollution, and urbanisation in a world with finite resources, he says.

“A truly smart city will manage to increase sustainability,” Menkoff adds. “Aspirations in terms of eco-smart towns and homes, electric car sharing services, reuse and recycling as well as greener practices in business and society at large are achievable in principle.”

“There is no doubt that the wise use of ICT can lead to a more efficient use of resources, energy savings, and a higher quality of life,” he notes.

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